Application of administrative penalties
Article 64
1. As regards the administrative penalties referred to in Article 63(2), this Article shall apply in cases of non-compliance in relation to eligibility criteria, commitments or other obligations resulting from the application of sectoral agricultural legislation, with the exception of those referred to in Articles 67 to 78 of Chapter II of this Title and in Articles 91 to 101 of Title VI and of those subject to the penalties provided for in Article 89(3) and 89(4). 2. No administrative penalties shall be imposed: (a) where the non-compliance is due to force majeure; (b) where the non-compliance is due to obvious errors as referred to in Article 59(6); (c) where the non-compliance is due to an error of the competent authority or another authority, and where the error could not reasonably have been detected by the person concerned by the administrative penalty; (d) where the person concerned can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the competent authority that he or she is not at fault for the non-compliance with the obligations referred to in paragraph 1 or if the competent authority is otherwise satisfied that the person concerned is not at fault; (e) where the non-compliance is of a minor nature, including where expressed in the form of a threshold, to be set by the Commission in accordance with point (b) of paragraph 7; (f) other cases in which the imposition of a penalty is not appropriate, to be defined by the Commission in accordance with point (b) of paragraph 6. 3. Administrative penalties may be imposed on the beneficiary of the aid or support and on other natural or legal persons, including groups or associations of such beneficiaries or other persons, bound by the obligations laid down in the rules referred to in paragraph 1. 4. The administrative penalties may take one of the following forms: (a) a reduction in the amount of aid or support to be paid in relation to the aid application or payment claim affected by the non-compliance or further applications; however as regards rural development support, this shall be without prejudice to the possibility of suspending the support where it can be expected that the non-compliance can be addressed by the beneficiary within a reasonable time; (b) payment of an amount calculated on the basis of the quantity and/or the period concerned by the non-compliance; (c) suspension or withdrawal of an approval, recognition or authorisation; (d) exclusion from the right to participate in or benefit from the aid scheme or support measure or other measure concerned; 5. The administrative penalties shall be proportionate and graduated according to the severity, extent, duration and reoccurrence of the non-compliance found, and shall respect the following limits: (a) the amount of the administrative penalty as referred to in point (a) of paragraph 4 shall not exceed 200 % of the amount of the aid application or payment claim; (b) notwithstanding point (a), as regards rural development, the amount of the administrative penalty, as referred to in point (a) of paragraph 4, shall not exceed 100 % of the eligible amount; (c) the amount of the administrative penalty, as referred to in point (b) of paragraph 4, shall not exceed an amount comparable to the percentage referred to in point (a) of this paragraph; (d) the suspension, withdrawal or exclusion referred to in points (c) and (d) of paragraph 4 may be set at a maximum of three consecutive years which may be renewed in the case of any new non-compliance. 6. In order to take account of the deterrent effect of charges and penalties to be imposed on the one hand, and the special characteristics of each aid scheme or support measure covered by sectoral agricultural legislation on the other hand, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 115: (a) identifying, for each aid scheme or support measure and person concerned as referred to in paragraph 3, from the list set out in paragraph 4 and within the limits laid down in paragraph 5, the administrative penalty and determining the specific rate to be imposed by Member States including in cases of non-quantifiable non-compliance; (b) identifying the cases in which the administrative penalties are not to be imposed, as referred to in point (f) of paragraph 2. 7. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts, laying down detailed procedural and technical rules for the uniform application of this Article on: (a) the application and calculation of the administrative penalties; (b) the detailed rules for identifying a non-compliance as minor, including the setting of a quantitative threshold expressed as a nominal value or a percentage of the eligible amount of aid or support, which as regards rural development support shall not be less than 3 % and which as regards all other aid or support shall not be less than 1 %; (c) the rules identifying the cases in which, due to the nature of the penalties, Member States may retain the penalties recovered. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 116(3).